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B&K Rootbeer

American fast-food restaurant chain

B-K Root Beer is an independent chain of drive-in fast-food restaurants, distinguished by their draft root beer and root beer floats. A midwestern chain, B-K restaurants are located in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. B-K stands for "Bergerson & Kenefick".2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

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B-K Root Beer is an independent chain of drive-in fast-food restaurants, distinguished by their draft root beer and root beer floats. A midwestern chain, B-K restaurants are located in Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. B-K stands for "Bergerson & Kenefick". The first one was built in Wabash, Indiana, in 1940.2

The story

The first B-K chain was founded in the mid-1940s in Wabash, Indiana. All the current B-K Rootbeer restaurants are independently owned and operated.

The B-K Root Beer chain of drive-in restaurants became owned by DeNovo Corporation in Livonia, Michigan, of which David Chapoton was President. In the late 1980s, Dave sold the B-K trademarks to Burger King Corporation, which they then launched their new Grilled Chicken sandwich, the BK Broiler.

In 2016, the B-K trademarks were abandoned by Burger King, and David Hosticka of Michigan retained the trademark & patent attorney Jake W. Lombardo of Bolhouse, Baar & Hofstee, P.C. and attempted to re-register the B-K Root Beer trademarks for the purpose of supporting the 35 or so remaining drive-in locations, and possibly reviving the B-K Root Beer brand. The application was rejected by the US Patent and Trademark office, citing that the letters B-K are still currently registered by Burger King Corporation.

From Wikipedia’s article on B&K Rootbeer, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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